Broader than a social media ban the restrictions are expected to include online games, AI chatbots and AI companions alongside traditional social media and video sharing platforms.

Under the draft proposal seen by Reuters, children aged 15 and over would be able to create their own accounts and those aged 13 to 14 could access introductory accounts with parental permission. Those aged under 13 would only have access to child-friendly services with parents retaining full control.

Central to the proposals is the process of age verification as the EU intends to move away from a practice of simply entering your date of birth.

Coimisiún na Meán, has already made clear that self-declaration alone is not considered an effective age verification measure. It is currently investigating X partly over concerns about the effectiveness of its age verification mechanisms.

The European Commission has already developed an EU age-verification system.

It is technically ready and is designed to be adapted by individual EU countries or private providers. The Commission says it expects the solution to be available across the EU by the end of 2026. Ireland is one of seven countries identified as a frontrunner for deployment.

An important aspect of the app, designed to address privacy concerns, is that while government issued ID is used to establish age within the app that information is not shared with platforms. Instead, platforms will receive a certificate to the effect that ‘Sarah is over the age of 15’ as opposed to ‘Sarah was born on 21 November 2010’. 

It is also understood that age verification transactions will not be linkable in that a record will not be established showing all the platforms where age verification has been used.

The document said: “The union’s approach should allow minors to benefit from the huge potential of digital services, while protecting them from abuse and exploitation. It needs to limit the access of tech companies to our children and not the other way around.”

President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen may announce some details in her state of the Union address on upcoming EU policy tomorrow, but the Commission has so far declined to comment on the leak.